A Blog Post

Travels with Dane

Over the last week I have been chasing trout with my friend Dane from South Africa who I met at a gas station recently. We had a great time together and were able to tackle a few rivers and quietly make noise. Dane and I are like brothers and shared many good meals and got into a few good fish as well. We compared notes on certain things in life and had a lot in common. We both love fly fishing and are completely obsessed with it. Thats common ground enough. You see fly fishing is like a brotherhood and you can bet your ass I’m going to go out of my way to help anybody but especially a fly fisherman. Dane is a very smart fisherman and thinks of things from every angle and is constantly paying attention to his surroundings. Carrying a masters degree in Ecology, Dane is in tune with his environment. On multiple occasions Dane would disappear into the woods following fan tails, or making bird noises, or pointing out certain types of non native bush, etc. I just figured there was 1080 in his water but you see, Dane has a contagious love for all things living and I loved his overall enthusiasm whether it be hiking up the river, making chocolate chip pancakes, or putting the hurt on a bottle of whiskey.

One memorable day we set off from our little hut and drove an hour and a half south to check out a spring creek I heard about. Upon arrival we were a bit lost and were looking for a farmer who may or may not let us fish his spring creek. We got side tracked when we stopped to talk with a hard hearted old farmer who may have been 137 years old but seriously. He had incredible stories about life and his general omniscient attitude was refreshing and left me wondering how much I really know about anything at all. He told us about fishing with pitch forks in that creek when he was a kid and motioned the size of a meter stick. He told us just last night there was a massive trout sipping dry fly’s every couple of minutes right under his tractor. The day had an undertone of epicness after our conversation with this guy. When I asked him his name he told me his last name first, I just loved that. With out much of a ceremony he said I better get back to work and put his headphones in and walked back to the tractor.

I know you think this story is going to turn out as epic as I but we didn’t catch a fish that day. The weather came in and the wind blew and we walked around and around and had a blast. I said goodbye to Dane with plans to meet up again. Meanwhile, still deep in some of the South Islands best fishing, Im planning my next two weeks intently. I will fish hard for all the Desk bound city folks out there who are itching to get away.